Sainte-Thérèse Convent

Sainte-Thérèse Convent is designated a Local Historic Place for its connection to a religious community and to education in the former village of Leger Corner, today a ward of the city of Dieppe. It is also designated for its architecture.

The Notre-Dame-du-Sacré-Cœur congregation, founded in 1923, which broke away from the Sisters of Charity of Saint John, is the first wholly Acadian congregation of nuns in southeastern New Brunswick. This congregation founded several schools in New Brunswick parishes as well as the Collège Notre-Dame d’Acadie in Moncton, the first institution of higher education for women in Acadia. Four sisters from the Notre-Dame-du-Sacré-Cœur congregation first settled in a residence in Leger Corner in August 1940. That is when the Dom Bosco school, where the nuns taught, was built. Their first mission was to teach in the poor area of Highlandview, to help overcome the humiliating designation of “tar paper town.” The nuns' first convent was moved in 1949 to make way for the new Sainte-Thérèse Church. Their second convent was established in the current building in 1949, in a house purchased from Alphonse Comeau that was built around 1920 by Harry Thibodeau. A residence for the nuns’ parents was attached to the convent.

Construction of the second Sainte-Thérèse Convent dates from the early 20th century. The building has interesting architecture that stands out, by its size and its elaborate shapes, from the modest suburban homes built during the same era in this neighbourhood. It is a good example of Foursquare residential architecture from this era in Dieppe.